|
| Dash Express Two-Way Internet-Connected Portable GPS Navigator | 
 enlarge
| Brand: Dash
Category: CE
List Price: $299.99
Buy New: $299.00
You Save: $0.99 (0%)
New (1) Used (2) from $199.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  166 reviews
Sales Rank: 2372
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 0
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 2.8 x 4.8 x 4.1
MPN: 99-1000-001
Model: 99-1000-001
UPC: 892437002012
EAN: 0892437002012
ASIN: B0014CIBWC
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Great product, but room for improvement. April 6, 2008
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
I've had this product for several days and have also owned a Magellan Roadmate before this one. Most of these cons could be fixed with future software updates.
Cons:
1. No Static IP addresses. When you connect the device, you must have DHCP enabled as there is currently no way to enter a static IP address/subnet addresses.
2. When GPS signal is lost (eg you drive through a tunnel), it doesn't give you a list of upcoming turns. My Magellan did this so that you could still make the turns that you need to.
Pros:
1. Traffic data is extremely accurate. When traffic conditions got worse, it gave a pop-up asking if i wanted to re-route around it.
2. Live internet searching is a God send. There has only been one entry that I have searched for that it was unable to find.
3. Map updates included in the service fee. I saw at Wal-Mart yesterday that map updates for a competitor device was $100.
At the end of the day, would I recommend this device, yes I would, but only if you live in a metro area that would benefit from the traffic information. Again, my cons can be fixed in future software updates.
 Dash- Not reccomended yet April 6, 2008
14 out of 23 found this review helpful
The Yahoo search is great, it almost makes up for how bad the points of interest search is!! That's where it all ends. I have been using GPS units for over 10 years from many different companies, except for the search the Dash is a step way back in time.
Routing with three choices, shows the routes as highlighted , there are no shortest distance , fastest time choice or least or most use of freeways. There is only an outline of a few route choices which is difficult to see . There is no auto zoom in to show you the detail of where you are driving, other units will auto zoom and show you the roads up close.
There are no sub categories on the points of interest, if you choose restaurants and then want to look for steakhouse , you only get restaurants. You can use the yahoo search and enter steakhouse which works great, if you drive after performing a yahoo search your distance will update but the list will not. Garmin does this best by constantly updating the list, Magellan does this the worst by forcing you to go back and research.
The Battery life is poor; in the FAQ they state the unit is large because of the wifi, gprs and batteries to provide extended life, I only got two hours or less. Other GPS units get more than double.
The good news, most of the issues are software related and can be updated if they have the resources to do it. The subscription fee is not a big deal for those that want updated maps and on line searches; it is well worth it. The option to push an address to the unit is also great and works well.
I think they should have waited till the unit was ready or comparable with other current GPS units to release, my unit will be returned or sold on ebay. I really wanted to like it but I found it not useable in its current release. They have allot to fix. I don't know why some of the other reviewers found it great, it just is not ready yet.
 Version 1.0 product that has the potential to change the way you drive April 6, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
First let me say I am not a beta tester and no one gave me a free product to try out. Spent 400 hard earned duckets on this thing and I couldn't be more pleased. Below is a list of pros and cons that I have discovered so far:
Pros:
1. Send to car ability - Using a plug in available on the [...] website you can highlight any address when browsing and click send 2 car. the address shows up on the device. The amazing thing since I was testing with the device NOT HOOKED UP TO WIFI is the address seemed to show up nearly instantaneously which is amazing in terms of network response.
2. YAHOO LOCAL SEARCH - Others have commented on this so I will not say much. However, compared to the "old school" havigation system in my car before this is night and day. Its the difference between searching the yellow pages in the phone book (remember those) and doing a google search. You get up to date information in a user friendly format. Gas station and price search for example was accurate and I have to confess I did spend a little time checking the prices back to the local stations and they were all right.
3. TRAFFIC INFORMATION - Driving in NYC I did notice live traffic data which seems to be very accurate. Driving out of NYC while there was no live data yet but the historical and other traffic data available to dash seems to be pretty accurate and much easier to use and understand than the FM based traffic data in my car previously.
CONS:
1. Froze once and needed to set back to factory settings.
2. Was a block off when trying to locate a nearby restaurant.
3. A little bigger than other systems available out there. However, the added functionality compensates for this for me.
All in all this is a great product and very nice first version. The company promises firmware upgrades etc. to keep improving it but the real key will be mass acceptance since the number one appeal is the peer to peer traffic information which changes the model on how this is handled today.
Works well, will improve April 5, 2008
25 out of 28 found this review helpful
I have had the Dash for three days now and I happy to report that it works very well. It's not perfect, but with the ability to receive software updates at any time, it might just get close to it.
The pluses:
1)Traffic is very accurate and will only get better. It is better than my Nuvi 680's MSN traffic, which I found to be hit and miss (figuratively :)).
2)Satellite access times are very quick. I don't know why some people are reporting slow times. Mine is as fast as the Nuvi, or faster.
3)Gas prices are very complete. Much more complete than the Garmin. On the Garmin it would take minutes to receive the gas data. On the Dash, it's there almost immediately.
4)Same with movie times. Much more complete than my Nuvi 680 via MSN. The Nuvi has maybe 20% of my local Los Angeles theaters. The Dash is nearly 100%. And again, you get the data right away, not in minutes.
5)For that matter, same with traffic. You get it immediately, not in minutes on the morning start up on my Nuvi.
6)The Send to Car feature, where you can type an address on your computer and send it to the Dash is amazing. It receives the send within one second! It's so fast that you almost can't believe it. What a great feature.
7)Connected internet searching and routing changes everything. This may be the best feature. You get the impression that there everything out there is available. You get this feeling of limitless searching, which is exactly what a GPS should give you.
8)The text to speech, while not as natural as the Garmin, is just fine. And louder than my Nuvi.
9)The screen is very bright and the non reflective coating makes it easy to see in the day.
10)The ability to be given up to three routes, while I wasn't that impressed at first, turns out to be a good choice. The Nuvi sometimes just doesn't give me the route I want to take. The Dash gives me a choice, which I like.
11)The mounting bracket is very heavy duty. I don't think this will fall off the windshield like my Nuvi does all of the time. Of course, the unit is huge, too, so you need a large mount.
Now for the minuses:
1)It has bugs which need to be fixed. When you do a search you only get around 16 or so results. So if you ask for the restaurants in Los Angeles, which should bring in thousands of hits, you get around 16 or so (I haven't counted). I called Dash and they noted this as a reported bug they are working on.
2)The UI is just not as nice as the TomTom or the Garmin. It looks more first generation. They tuned down the colors on the map so the traffic stands out, but it ends up looking too bland. They need to find a way to make it look nicer and not diffuse the traffic information.
3)The menu system needs a redesign. Some choices sound the same, and take you to similar areas. It needs a rethink to make it easier to use.
4)The 3D view shows an arrow where you need to turn. The 2D view doesn't. This needs to be corrected. You can't always tell where to turn in 2D view.
5)For that matter, it isn't always easy to tell exactly which road is the route. Due to their muted colors, the route is white, but roads without traffic information are grey. These colors are too close to each other. The route itself should stand out more.
6)Missing features: waypoints, avoidances, detours, etc. Dash says these will be added. Not sure why they weren't in version 1.0, but glad to hear they're coming.
7)The size is big. But this is NOT a minue to me, because when you have it mounted you can't tell the size from the driver's perspective. You just see the screen, and the depth does not show to the driver.
But all in all, I gave it a 4 rating for effort. This is a revolutionary unit. I don't have any doubt that their competition is sweating it out to make a similar product. In many ways, it's like the iPhone in the way it will change the GPS market. It has that potential.
And imagine if they really do offer the features people have imagined they could: restaurant reservations, ticket purchases, email, web browsing, etc. At that point, the promise of the mobile internet in your car becomes very real. The Dash may just be able to pull it off.
 Great Idea - Not Ready Yet April 4, 2008
10 out of 16 found this review helpful
I'm not a big GPS junkie, but I did have a cheap Tom Tom before purchasing this on the day it went for sale.
It is a great device in giving you realtime traffic information on the route you are driving. Even some side streets and non freeway roads. I was very impressed with it and now it was able to update itself.
The unit is larger then most and quite heavy. The stick on the dash disk the comes with the unit lasted about an hour before the GPS ended on the floor of the car. I would hate to see how it would do in the Texas heat. The glass mounted suction cup is the way to go as far as installing the unit.
The interface is very nice and very clear to see both night and day. I have used the Yahoo interface to find things and that is nice, that is not the selling point of this unit for me.
As a GPS device- it has a way to go to even have really the basic funcitons of a GPS. The unit is not that good at planning routes. It picks one way and that's it. If you go a different way, it does not recalculate the route like other GPS's do. It does not have setting that allow you to bypass toll roads or not use them all together. The unit also takes a bit of time to crank up and start GPS functions. In the morning I'm a mile down the road before it finally gets synced up. Little stuff like picking voices and other average features of a run of the mill GPS is just not there. With the price tag of this unit, it should.
What I would like to see it do is to be able to alert me there is a slowdown ahead and give me some alternative routes around the slow traffic. Having the real time info is nice, but you have to do something with it to be helpful.
That said, I'm going to keep it and see where they go with it. The monthly fee is going to hard to swallow if they don't push out software enhancements and new features on a regular basis.
|
|
|
Copyright
©
2006 Adminpal LLC | |
